Open Access

ARTICLE

On the Effect of Mist Flow on the Heat Transfer Performances of a Three-CopperSphere Configuration

Karema A. Hamad^*, Yasser A. Mahmood

Department of Electromechanical Engineering, University of Technology-Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq

* Corresponding Author: Karema A. Hamad. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Recent advancements in thermal fluid flow applications)

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2023, 19(11), 2863-2875. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2023.029049

Received 23 January 2023; Accepted 18 April 2023; Issue published 18 September 2023

Abstract

The cooling of a (pebble bed) spent fuel in a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) is adversely affected by an increase in the temperature of the used gas (air). To investigate this problem, a configuration consisting of three copper spheres arranged in tandem subjected to a forced mist flow inside a cylindrical channel is considered. The heat transfer coefficients and related variations as a function of Reynolds number are investigated accordingly. The experimental results show that when compared to those with only airflow, the heat transfer coefficient of the spherical elements with mist flow (j = 112 kg/m² hr, Re = 55000) increases by 180%, 75%, and 20%, respectively for the first, second, and third spherical element (the corresponding heat transfer enhancement ratio being 2.3, 1.4, and 1.1). Additional numerical simulations reveal that the presence of stagnant zones with intense vortex formation around each spherical element contributes significantly to determine the heat transfer behavior.

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Keywords

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